Category: Claire Perry MP

Not for the faint-hearted. Contains intense violence, blood and gore, strong language and Philip Hammond.

Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.

The aftermath of Chequers saw the ratings of every single Cabinet member fall. It was its worst collective performance to date. But it is a measure of how shocking our latest monthly results are that those members would be justified in tumbling to their knees – and begging for those post-Chequers results to be resurrected.

Now, they are joined by Jeremy Wright, David Gauke, Claire Perry, David Lidington, Liam Fox, Amber Rudd – on her return to the top table – Caroline Nokes, Andrea Leadsom, Karen Bradley and, on his debut, by Steve Barclay. Unsweet sixteen.

Yes, that’s sixteen Ministers in the red, rather than six – outnumbering the 13 of its members who get into the black, some of them by tiny margins. No fewer than seven ministers have positive ratings of lower than ten points: James Brokenshire, Gavin Williamson, David Mundell, Alan Cairns, Damian Hinds and, yes, the mighty Michael Gove, who topped the table as recently as June.

Geoffrey Cox led the pack with a 67.5 approval rating last month. He is still top, but his rating is down by about a third. Ditto, roughly, the table’s other top performers, if that label can be used in the same sentence as this dismal return.

And never mind the ratings – look at the falls. Liam Fox was at 35, but is now in negative territory. Andrea Leadsom’s score follows a similar pattern. Penny Mordaunt hasn’t publicly defended the deal. Maybe that’s why she’s still in the black. Just about.

So is there any good news for anyone at all? It depends what you mean. Theresa May’s rating was actually lower after Chequers, but her scores are still horrible: – 48.1 then, – 42 this month (she was – 42.3 last month, since you ask). However, Philip Hammond is at -46.7, which must be a new low, even for him.

Ruth Davidson would have cause to think, as she gives Baby Finn a cuddle: what’s the point of coming back?

Britain has a proud environmental record. Here is another opportunity to lead the world.

Laura Sandys is a member of the Commission on the Future of Localism and a Vice-President of Civic Voice.

We should commend ourselves that Conservatives have been at the forefront of the global endeavour to combat climate change and our achievements have not been insignificant. Since 2010, a Conservative-led Government signed the Paris Agreement, became the first major economy to commit to phasing out coal and has overseen a remarkable decarbonisation of the power sector. Electricity generated from clean sources is 50 per cent today, up from 19 per cent at the beginning of the decade.

We as Conservatives can rightfully be proud of this record.

However we must not kid ourselves that while we have been successful in addressing the decarbonisation of electricity, we now face some even tougher decisions. Power decarbonisation is just one piece of the policy puzzle. The heavy lifting is just about to start as we now have to address the decarbonisation of heat, industry, transport and agriculture.

These decisions are not just difficult but time sensitive as the recently published UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report starkly states. If we don’t move faster and deeper into our carbon-reliant economy and limit warming to 1.5 degrees, we are facing an unsustainable future for most of our communities.

To decarbonise those hard to reach parts of the economy there are limited few options available. Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage Technologies (CCUS) is the most promising option to unlock decarbonisation by removing and then using or storing carbon dioxide before it is emitted into the atmosphere. In addition, the UK is uniquely placed to exploit this technology with the North Sea infrastructure, skills from our offshore oil and gas sector and using the existing pipelines from land to store already in place. As well as bringing obvious environmental benefits, this is also a huge economic opportunity to establish a world-leading industry in the UK and ensure our industrial heartlands remain relevant for decades to come.

As the Heineken of decarbonisation, CCUS can help decarbonise heavy industry, produce low carbon hydrogen to decarbonise heating and transport, as well as support negative emission technologies when integrated with bio-energy generation. Other low carbon technologies cannot do this.

Again Conservatives have taken a leadership role through Energy Minister Claire Perry’s commissioning of a Cost Challenge Taskforce to establish a pathway to exploit CCUS. The report identified five areas ideally suited to clustering CCUS. Teesside, Yorkshire & the Humber, the North West, Scotland and South Wales have closely located power and industrial facilities and access to offshore storage. This industrial clustering is key to driving cost reductions and maximising the full value of the technology.

CCUS now needs a clear policy signal from Government, but one that recognises the unique economic and environmental value that the technology brings to the whole economy, not just the power sector.

Claire Perry has done a terrific job of building confidence in the industry over the past year. Committing to developing at least two regional clusters in the Government’s CCUS Deployment Pathway, would continue the Conservatives proud tradition of global green leadership and nurturing competitive, low carbon industries. All done while also protecting our industrial base and supporting our regional Industrial Strategy.

Three decades after Thatcher’s Conservative Governments supported the formation of the IPCC, we should heed their latest warnings and support technologies that go where none have gone before..

We have occasionally seen precipitous falls in Cabinet members’ scores. Vertiginous rises are rarer. Indeed, it is hard to think of a jump quite like it.

When our last Cabinet League Table was published, Geoffrey Cox had neither made his ringing speech to the Conservative Party Conference, nor yet brought a new clarity in Cabinet to what comes before it from the Brexit negotiations. And though he was sat mid-table, his rating was a modest + 11.

This month, it soars by almost 60 points to take him to the table’s top. We have occasionally seen precipitous falls in Cabinet members’ scores. Vertiginous rises are rarer. Indeed, it is hard to think of a jump quite like it. We may now even get a Cox-for-leader ramp, though our view is that he is well placed to take over, in due course, at Justice.

The Attorney General has clearly raised great expectations among the pro-Brexit generality of party members. But their approval is not confined to those who campaigned for Leave during the EU referendum. Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt are second and third. The Foreign Secretary’s rating has scarcely moved. The Home Secretary’s has actually risen slightly.

Dominic Raab is now fourth. Esther McVey has slid: that will be the impact of the Universal Credit row. Gavin Williamson is out of negative territory. We suspect that Philip Hammond’s score would have been higher had the survey gone out post rather than pre-Budget, but the Softer Brexiteers, as usual, take a pasting, with the Prime Minister’s score down on last month.

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